


Dream of a Dream

by I_Am_The_Lord_of_Pie



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa Zero, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Angst, Creatures, Danganronpa Zero even though I haven't seen it, Death, Dreamtalia, F/F, F/M, Ghosts, Love, Love Triangle, M/M, Mythology - Freeform, Only If You Look, Polyamory, Sad, baku, dark themes, parody???, possibly, possibly smut???, smol fluff, tags will be added as i go along
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-02
Updated: 2018-08-20
Packaged: 2019-03-12 18:39:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13553268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_Am_The_Lord_of_Pie/pseuds/I_Am_The_Lord_of_Pie
Summary: Students are dropping like flies due to some sort of unknown disease. The students go into a comatose sort of state, and after a few days, they pass away quietly and peacefully. But no one knows the cure, or why this is happening.Hope's Peak Academy, Class 79 will be the ones teaming up to try and find the creature and/or virus that is taking their friends lives.Will they do it in time?Or is all lost?NOTE: THIS IS BASED OFF OF DREAMTALIA, BUT YOU DO NOT NEED TO KNOW THE GAME/AU TO KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON. THANK YOU.





	1. Dream of a Happy Ending

Chapter 1: Dream of a Happy Ending

It had all started with Iori Oshima and Iris Chastain. The two males were lovers, and fairly happy ones at that. However there was a dark, and grim backstory behind the two. Iori had cheated on Iris before with the Ultimate Film Director, a foreign exchange student named Egil. Iris and Iori were able to make up about it, but for some reason, Iris just couldn't stop bringing it up. Iori was furious about this, and finally confronted his lover about the behavior. However, it seemed to be in vain because everything had went to hell after that point.

"THAT WAS ALMOST TWO YEARS AGO! I SAID I WAS SORRY AND I MADE IT UP! WHY CAN'T YOU JUST TRUST ME AGAIN?" The talented drummer screamed at his younger boyfriend.

"Well how about I just cheat on you, and then you would get to see how it feels?"

The argument lasted much longer than it needed to, they both knew that all too well. Iori was about to cut off Iris, when he started to feel faint. Black spots began to invade his vision, and there was a loud ringing in his ears. Starting from his toes up, there was a feeling of static traveling throughout his entire body. "I...ris...?" Was the last thing that Iori Oshima could choke out before he fell to the ground, eyes closed.

"Iori!" Instantly, the argument was forgotten as Iris knelt down beside his lover, and desperately tried to wake him up. There was still a pulse, so at least he wasn't dead... But then what happened? He grabbed his phone and called 119 (Japanese Police), begging for an ambulance. His heart beat was just so slow... Something was wrong, he just knew it. But what?

The screaming and crying attracted the attention of multiple students in the vicinity, particularly three of the medical based students. The Ultimate Nurse, Mikan Tsumiki, The Ultimate Neurologist, Yasuke Matsuda, and the Ultimate Physiologist, Satsuki Kagamune. Without wasting time, the three went into Iris and Iori's dorm, accessed the situation, and then quickly went into over drive as they attempted to figure out what was happening.

"H-H-His pulse is r-r-r-really slow..." Mikan stuttered out, two fingers pressed against Iori's wrists.

"And he isn't reacting to any touch..." Satsuki muttered as she took a tool and bumped him on the knee to test his reflexes... There was nothing. "He has to be in a state of comatose for sure."

"Naturally," Yasuke said boredly, staring up at Iris. "Don't tell me you-"

"Did someone call for a paramedic?!"

Yasuke was cut off by a small team of medics rushing in to try and help the fallen Iori Oshima. Iris repeated his story to the professionals and his fellow students. At this point, there was a small crowd outside the dorm, murmuring about what may have happened.

"Do you think Iris knocked him out?"  
"Maybe he was drugged..."  
"Was he sick? Is he dying?"  
"Iris is so abusive..."

"Iris has nothing to do with Iori's physical state." Satsuki said firmly to the crowd. "I checked Iori myself, and he has no external wounds, aside from bruising due to his fall. Now as you aren't professionals, I suggest you leave-"

"Well it's not like you're a professional either! You're just a student, dumbass!"

"I may just be a student, but you don't know anything about anatomy do you? No. So leave now or-"

 _"Students, this is your headmaster speaking."_ A rough voice echoed across the school. Jin Kirigiri rarely made announcements addressing the whole school, especially on normal nights such as this. _"I am afraid there is some sort of outbreak in the school. Until further notice, we are all under quarantine until further notice. Students are to wear medical masks at all times, and have as little physical interaction with each other as possible. The power and Internet will still be up, so you can keep into contact with your friends and family. However, if you leave, then you will be promptly expelled when we have control over the situation... That is all."_

Suddenly, there was uproar across the entire academy. People were at the gates, banging and yelling, there were already news reporters standing outside the school, talking to the cameras about the problem.

All of Class 79 were talking together in the game room at the time. Korekiyo and Saihara were reading a book; Miu and Kokichi were messing with Kiibo while Gonta attempted to stop them; Kaito was talking to Maki about... whatever it is Kaito talks about that doesn't involve going to space; Himiko was doing a magic show for Rantaro, Tenko, and Angie; Kirumi was trying to rapidly clean up any mess that was made while also making food for those who demanded it; and then there's Ryoma, sitting in the corner. Unbeknownst to everyone else... He was infected with whatever disease was going around. If anyone looked at him at first glace, they simply would have assumed he was asleep. Not that his heart rate was going down at an exceptional rate, and if no one did anything soon, he would be gone. They would all be gone.

The fifteen conscious students froze upon hearing the announcement

"What?! We're gonna be stuck in this shit hole?!" Miu screamed while Himiko was starting to shake.

"D-Don't worry, Himiko! Tenko will get you out of here!" Inside, Tenko was kinda panicking as well though. A disease?! There's no way Tenko could physically fight that off! Well... at least not for Himiko.

"I do not believe that is wise... The more you try to run away from it, then you are psychologically more likely to get the disease." Korekiyo said calmly, not even looking up from his book. He simply thought that it was a disease. Nothing more, nothing less. Oh how wrong he would be.

"Hey guys... How long has Ryoma been sleeping...?" Rantaro broke the chaotic chatter from his friends.

"Ryoma?" Gonta said, and looked over at his limp and almost lifeless body. Shuichi sprang up from his seat and put two fingers against his neck. "He's... still alive. But why isn't he waking up?" The detective thought outloud. Suddenly, the door opened and there was a teacher, rapidly glancing around, until their eyes landed on the barely living body of Ryoma Hoshi.

"Damn," They hissed, looking down in dismay as they took out a walkie-talkie. "There's 45 down so far. New victim is Ryoma Hoshi, the Ultimate Tennis Pro of Class 79." The teacher attacked the walkie to their hip and turned towards the other teenagers. "One of you come with me to carry Ryoma to the gym. The rest of you, wear these." A box of medical masks were passed around. Obviously, everyone except Korekiyo had put it on.

Gonta obviously volunteered to take Ryoma, since he was definitely the strongest out of all of them. With very little effort, the small body of the Ultimate Tennis Pro was carried out of the game room, and to the gym.

In the gym, there were two rows of students supposedly sleeping soundly, without a care in the world. Iris Chastain was sitting there as well, holding his boyfriends hand. There were a few other close friends and even some family gathered around. Iori's siblings were Ultimate's as well. Isa, The Ultimate Figure Skater, and Joji, the Ultimate Knife Thrower. They were twins, and they were so worried about their brother it wasn't even funny. Sure they didn't normally get along that well, but what else were they supposed to do at a time like this? Gonta could also see a few students that he recognized; like Makoto Naegi, Kazuichi Souda, Chihiro Fujisaki, Ishimaru Kiyotaka, Aoi Asahina, Gundham Tanaka, and Teruteru Hanamura. -Gonta was very cautious when he was around Teruteru because uh. Let's just say that his own classmates were affected by the "Sexy-Sexy-Soup Incident" as well. But that's a story for another time.

Gonta laid Ryoma exactly where the teacher had instructed him, and even put a blanket over his tiny body. he was just so scared... What would become of his friend? Why can't Gonta protect the ones he loves?! Why... Why is Gonta so useless...? It was at this point that Gonta started to feel faint.

"Gonta... Needs to sit..." He muttered to himself, obviously catching the attention of the teacher.

"W-What?! Gonta, nO-!"

But before another word could be spoken, Gonta Gokuhara had fallen to the ground, almost directly next to one of his best friends.

" _We have another one down."_

=====

Meanwhile, back in the game room:

The fourteen remaining students were now giddy and scared as they talked to one another. Well... Eleven of them at least. Angie was preaching about how they just needed to pray to Atua, Korekiyo was thinking in the corner, and Kokichi was... doing whatever it is Kokichi does when he's actually scared but doesn't want to admit it.

"Oh, my beloved Rantaro and Shuichi~! I really hope my boyfriends can protect me~!" Kokichi giggled, making Shuichi blush like crazy.

"K-Kokichi! W-We're not your boyf-friends and you know i-it!" He pulled his cap down to cover his eyes again from embarrassment.

"Yet."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YET?!"

"Guys, you all need to calm down! I'm sure it's nothing," Kaito scoffed, his arms crossed over his chest. "It's probably just a really bad version of the flu goin' around or somethin'."

"Are you suuuuuuuuuuure it's the flu, Momota-chan~?" Kokichi giggled, biting his thumb innocently.

"Ok, quick question, why do you refer to us by our last names sometimes?" Kaito made a T shape with his hands, as a time-out symbol.

"Because the author of this story reeeeaaaallllly likes it when I say 'Saihara-chan' and 'Amami-chan' but is really bad with keeping up with saying all last names or all first names."

"Author...?"

"Don't think about it too much. Lizzy is mentally unstable and needed something to take her mind off of this."

"Wh-"

"STORY."

"Do you think it could even be a known disease?" Korekiyo hummed, tapping his fingers together in thought. His eyes darted to the ceiling as he ran through multiple folk stories and tales he had learned throughout the years. Of course, it was extremely unlikely that it was the case, but there was always a chance. Besides, he had done seances and rituals before; all of them had worked out fine. Who's to say that there was an unknown force that they had to reckon with? "...or maybe it's not even human at all."

"H-Huh?!" Kaito gulped. "D-Don't say shit like that!"

"Let's not make him paranoid again," Maki rolled her eyes. "We all saw what happened on Halloween."

Oh right.

On Halloween last year, they were all at a camp-fire that Rantaro had set up. There was a shit ton of candy, Ryoma got wasted, Kaito got high, and they all told scary stories. Even when he's tripping balls, Kaito still gets horrified when he hears ghost stories. He had actually held onto Maki the entire night, and it was a miracle he didn't accidentally suffocate her. But then when he finally got back to his dorm, he threw up because it freaked him out so much.

"Nishishi~! That was still once of the funniest things every~! You act so stupid when you're high." The purple haired bitch snickered.

"Whatever! I think we should investigate the school to see if we can find anything useful-"

"Before we do that," The Anthropologist interrupted the group, "I have a question for all of you. How often do you dream?"

"What does-"

"Just answer the question! I have some... theories, per-say..."

"Theories?" Tenko started off, and then frowned. "Well... I don't remember my dreams that often but I guess when I do dream they're mostly nightmares... Aside from the past few nights..."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well... My dreams have been more... pleasant to say the least. Nothing a degenerate male like you needs to know!"

"I see... Well... would you all like to hear my theory?"

"Well, if it's just a theory than go ahead. It's all we have to go on right now." Kaito plopped down on a bean bag chair in the room, his arms crossed over his chest as he intently listened to what his creepy ass friend had to say.

"I think we're facing against a Baku-"

"A baka?"

"Not a baka, baka! A bakU. A Japanese Dream Demon-"

"DEMON?!" Kaito screeched, suddenly gripping onto Maki, pulling her down onto his lap. Oh look now she's blushing again.

"I-Idiot, let me go!" She hissed. Obviously, he wasn't paying attention. He was too concerned about whatever this 'Dream Demon' thing was.

"Oooh, a Baku~?" Rantaro interrupted, a calm smile on his face. Out of everyone there, the one who was still searching for the twelve sisters he somehow managed to lose across the world, how was he so calm? "I've heard of those before... With my younger sisters they would get nightmares a lot and I of course traveled a lot. I told them that if they had a bad dream then a dream eater-- er, I actually called it a nightmare eater-- would take it away if they said /Baku-san, come eat my dream/, three times in a row. Then they just had to go back to sleep and they would be okay." He fiddled with a few of the rings on his fingers, not daring to look anyone in the eyes. Kokichi is the one who ratted him out about what happened to his siblings. Luckily, all of them were very supportive, and Shuichi even said that when he had more experience, he would do everything in his power to help him find all twelve girls.

"Precisely. That's what a lot of people know about the Baku." Korekiyo had a smile on under his mask, but it wasn't like anyone could see. "However, you cannot just summon a Baku, especially if it's starving. I know a Dream Demon is something that I have not yet summoned, so it wasn't me... But if I am correct, then that's why all of these students are dropping. A Baku was summoned, but it was starving. Because of this, it is feeding on the dreams of our fellow students... But what I cannot wrap my head around is why it's being so selective."

"I think we should go out and start asking people what they've experienced with the other people who are knocked out..." Saihara thought outloud.

"Good idea." Kiyo hummed, his eyes closed. "I believe that we should ask some of the Doctorate Ultimate's. Surly, they of all people must know something."

"Good idea. Should we split up?"

"If we do, it must be in large groups. So I say that we split up into two groups. Kaede-"

"No, I'm gonna choose groups!" Kokichi interrupted. "I'm tired of you spending time with Kaede. You're gonna have to spend time with me instead, on *my* terms!"

"But-"

"SO~! First group will be me, Saihara, Maki --since Gonta's not here and I don't wanna die--, Amami-Chan, Momota-Chan, Mom, aaaaand...Hm... Korekiyo-kun!"

"Then," Kaede started with a small frown, "that leaves me, Angie, Himiko, Tenko, Kiibo, Tsumugi and Iruma. Why did you get to choose all the boys-?"

"because instead of actually doing stuff we're gonna go into the back room and have a massive orgy-"

"WHAT?!" Most of the boys screamed. Except Korekiyo. He uh... He seemed mostly okay with it.

"Buuuuut that's a lie~! Probably."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY PROBABLY?!" Kaito is massively shook at this point.

"Don't worry, he'll just die if he tries anything." Maki promised, a dark aura surrounding her by now.

"M-Maki!" Shuichi's eyes widened a bit. "W-We'll be fine, but w-we should just... go..."

"Agreed."

And so the fourteen remaining students split up to try and find the secret behind their beloved school. Unbeknownst to them, they were also trying to save themselves in the process...

 

_Two Down, Fourteen to go._


	2. Think Happy Thoughts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Who goes next?

_"Wake up..."_

_..._

_..._

_..._

_..._

_"WAKE UP!"_

_My eyes suddenly opened wide. Above me, I could see a clear blue sky, not even a cloud in the sky. The air was warm and the soft green blades below me almost felt like a pillow. I squint from the sun in my face and then sat up._

_"Gosh, it's about time, sleepy-head!"_  
  
_"...Huh?"_

_I blinked a couple of times and looked around... My vision was slightly blurry, but a few more blinks and it cleared up._

_"Where... am I?"_

_"That's unimportant silly, aren't you happy to see me?"_

_That voice... Where had he heard that voice before...?_

_"See...you...?"_

_When my vision finally cleared up, I was met with a girl. A girl that I loved and knew extremely well. Her skin was dark, and her eyes a bright blue, with a happy look in them. There was a bright smile on her face, and her hair was put up in a very tight ponytail._

_"Gen...esis?" I breathed out in total shock. "That's... impossible... you died... they found you..."_

_"Don't worry about that now~" I could feel her pull me into an embrace. Her almost forgotten warmth was nearly overpowering. I was shaking now, and before I even knew it, I was sobbing._

_"I... missed you... so much..."_

_"I know, Ryoma, I know. But I'm here now, and that's all that matters..."_

  
\------------

All around Hope's Peak Academy, there was total and utter chaos. Students were running around in a panic, desperately trying to contact their loved ones, while also trying to protect their friends inside the school. Still, no one knows what is actually happening to the Ultimates, but they did know that they were totally and petrified.   
  
Our 79th Class has split up into two groups, now scouting the school for answers.

Group A (Saihara, Ouma, Kaito, Korekiyo, Maki, Kirumi, and Rantaro) had investigated the upper levels of the school, where all the large equipment for engineers, doctors and such were stored while group B (Kaede, Angie, Tenko, Iruma, Kiibo, Tsumugi, and Himiko) mostly investigated the ground floor, where all the students were. Of course, Tenko would have rather gone with group A, just to make sure the 'filthy degenerates' actually did their jobs and didn't have a massive orgy like Ouma said they would. But then she realized that there would be no one else to protect the females if something were to happen... And she couldn't let that happen. She had to protect Himiko!

So there Group B wandered, asking any student they came across what they knew; then they grew closer to the gym. A frown graced the pianists' lips as she looked through the narrow glass in the door of the gymnasium.

"What can you see, Akamatsu?" Himiko asked lazily.   
  
"Well... Not much right now..." Kaede admitted, getting on her tip-toes to attempt to get a better look. "Ugh, these stupid lines in front of the glass aren't helping!" Her cheek puffed out a bit.

"Ugh, move out of the way, Baka-matsu!" Without warning, Miu had shoved Kaede out of the way. "Let me, Iruma Miu, the gorgeous girl genius, show you tiny tit gals how it's done." She grinned, and suddenly kicked the door open.

"IRUMA-SAN ARE YOU CRAZY?!" Kiibo screeched. "We don't know what's in there! It could be something contagious-"

Then there was silence.

Upon looking inside the room, they saw rows and rows of students being laid on the gym floor, a thin white blanket over all of them. "...It's a quarantine zone..." Tenko said quietly. Even she was shocked at what she was seeing.

"...I can heal them all with my magic-"

"Himiko, for fucking _once_  can you not say any bullshit about your magic?!" Iruma snapped.

"But it's real! I can-"  
  
"No, you fucking can't, Yumeno! I don't like thinkin' about it either, but you need to wake the fuck up! This is real! This ain't some fucking magic show."

"Iruma-san that is enough!" Tenko snapped, all ready to fight.

"...I'm tired," Himiko muttered and yawned, throwing her hands above her head as he did.

"But you literally just took a nap, Yumeno." Tenko frowned. How was she so tired all the time? It was a mystery to everyone

"Nyeh... I've been using a lot of my mana to try and make everyone feel better. I'm just... so..." Without warning, Himiko collapsed on the ground, while the gym door was still open and everyone was watching.

"Himiko!" Tenko screeched, quickly catching the smaller female in her arms. As if on queue, a teacher rushed over, taking Himiko and Tenko into the gym, as they had done with other students so many times already in the short amount of time that they had been dealing with this disease.

"P-Please," Mikan suddenly interrupted the group of females and Kiibo, "i-it's best if you go... We're n-not sure if the d-disease is contagious o-or how it is spread." She stuttered, ushering them out of the room, and then closing the gym door once again.

"Well!" Angie chirped. "Guess that was a bust! Even Atua knew that it would not work~!" Then she skipped out of the room like it was nothing. Even now, when her friends were potentially going to die, she was so optimistic? So reliant on her god that may or may not exist? It was mildly concerning.

 

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

 

Back with the boys (plus Maki), things weren't going... too much better. They had made it up to the upper levels but had split off again. Some of them went to Korekiyo's Ultimate Lab while the others were looking in some of the medical students' labs. So here are Kaito, Maki, and Saihara) looking at all the medical equipment. Of course, most of it had been taken to the gym by now. Ventilators, medicine, syringes, air purifiers, anesthesia, all of it was gone.

"Damn," Kaito started, a frown on his face, and slight fear in his eyes, "is it really this bad?"

"It would appear so." Maki was currently looking at what was left, trying to find some sort of answer. Saihara was doing a bit of a more throughout investigation, however, looking over some reports in the past. They haven't seen anything like this before... There were even files from other medical cases from all over the world. Still, there was nothing.

Then suddenly, the door burst open, and there was Satsuki Kagamune, holding several vials of blood drawn from various students.

"Tch! What the hell are you doing in here?! Didn't anyone tell you the med labs are off limits until further notice?!" The girl hissed, gently setting the glass vials of blood on the counter, making sure they wouldn't fall, and then turning towards the class. There was a soft whirring sound that could be heard in the room as well. Satsuki didn't like people to know, but she had three robotic limbs; one arm and both legs. She got them amputated at a young age for reasons unknown to everyone in the school except the Headmaster. She got help from Kiibo and Professor Idabashi, however, to keep up with her limbs. They were made out of a similar material to the Ultimate Robot, but they were more... human-like. It was cybernetic, like Luke Skywalker in Star Wars. However, it didn't have the realistic skin, so she simply wore a large trench coat and black gloves, as well as pants and thick boots. "Well?"

"We're investigating," The assassin said blankly, staring ahead like it was nothing. "The school won't give us proper answers, so we need to find them for ourselves."

"We can't give answers because we *have* no answers. Not yet. I drew blood from some of the students, and so I'm going to run a couple of tests. Yasuke is doing some other tests as well. Now can you please leave so I can do what I need to? I'm just as worried as everyone else. I have a class that I care about too."

"Well- just let us help, okay?" Kaito said quickly, trying to pick up the vials of blood, despite him wanting to scream just by looking.

"Kaito stop it, you might break-"

"Ah, don't worry about it, Shuichi! I'm Kaito Momota! Luminary of the-"

_C R A S H_

...  
  
...

...

"Shit..."

"KAITO!" Maki screeched, instantly pinning him to the wall. Her hair almost looked like tentacles, as they defied gravity and started to wave. The assassin's eyes were dark with fury, and the aura around her could send a grown man to tears. There was a knife against his neck, and the pure fear and paleness of his face said it all. He was scared shitless. You never mess with Maki Harukawa. And he just broke her one rule.

"I'm sorry! I thought I was helping!" Kaito wheezed, forcing himself not to cry as his body shook. He's seen Maki angry before. But with this training, they had tried to make her less temperamental... However, you can't cure everything. He had worked so hard too. But all his efforts were in vain when he dropped those stupid vials of blood. "I'm sorry-! I'm..."

It was visible to everyone in the room that he was slowly becoming weaker. His eyelids became heavy like the rest of the body as it slowly slumped to the ground, despite the knife against his neck. "I... think I'm gonna take a nap." Then, it was lights out.

"Kaito!" Shuichi yelled, rushing to his side as Maki removed her knife.

"Interesting..." Satsuki thought out loud. "All the patients that I've noticed... They've passed out in mid-argument... Are either of you close with Momota?" She asked the two now panicking Ultimates. Their friend... their trainer basically, was now practically lifeless on the ground. If they hadn't seen his chest slowly and rising falling, they would have thought that he had dropped dead at the scene.

"...He's our friend." Shuichi muttered putting his fingers against his neck, making sure that there was a pulse.

"I see... Help me draw some blood from him, and then we'll take him to the Gym with all the other students for the time being."

 

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

 

The remaining students, Kirumi, Ouma, Rantaro, and Korekiyo were currently in the lab of the Ultimate Anthropologist, looking through countless books and records, trying to find everything they could about the creature known as a Baku. A dream eater. Of course, Korekiyo knew where to look first, so he simply pointed out every book and file that contained the beast, and looked through it. All of them learned a bit more about monsters than they had cared to before.

"There's dream reapers in other cultures as well. In Germany, there is a creature called an _Alp_." Rantaro hummed in curiosity yet concentration. "It's a demon that causes nightmares by sitting on its victim's chest; like sleep paralysis."

"Yes..." The anthropologist hummed. "However, from what I can tell, other cultures have rhymes and prayers against nightmares and demons, but Japan is the only country that actually has a demon for it..."

"No, wait! There's one in the Norse part of the world. It's called a Fauchereve..." The avocado frowned.

"A... fuck a what?" Ouma was totally lost at this point. Well... Really he was lost from the beginning. This whole time he was just looking at different knick-knacks and trying to ask questions, only to get ignored; of course.

"A fauchereve. A Norse demon that preys on people and takes them to... _a better world_. As it says here. A dream world where everything is perfect and you never want to wake up... A world in which you can't wake up. _After a few days, the body will die and decay... The victim will be stuck in the dream world forever..._ " Rantaro trailed off, sadness in his eyes. He knew something. Something that his friends did not know.

"Wah! My beloved Amami-chan, you have to protect me!" Ouma screeched and suddenly started to cling to the green child, crocodile tears in his eyes. "I don't wanna be stuck in a dream for the rest of my life! Well... Unless you're in it of course~"

"Ouma, we don't have time for this... Our friends are in danger... they may never wake up again! We have to help them." He said firmly. He always thought more about his friends than he did himself... He was already the Ultimate Useless Big Brother, so he might as well try to make up for it by taking care of his friends until he can get to his family again.

"Or maybe this is all a dream right now." Ouma giggled.

"Illogical." The anthropologist hummed smoothly. "You can become self-aware in the middle of a dream, but if we are dealing with a Baku, then it would make no sense if this was someone's dream, and others were collapsing, Ouma-kun."

"...well isn't that mind breaking!" Ouma continued to keep up his facade and annoy the others in the room to no end. But on the inside, he was honestly worried. He didn't want to lose his friends. Not a single person, not even other DICE members knew how he truly felt about his classmates. Well, at least as far as he knew, no one else did. He always picked on Amami, Saihara, Kiibo, and even Momota, but he honestly adored them all.

"Ouma, just for once, can you please take this seriously? We're already in trouble as it is..." Amami as normally good at hiding how he truly felt. He was supposed to support everyone. He was a Big Brother figure to almost all of them, wasn't he? He couldn't make up what happened to his sisters, but he could try harder. Which is exactly what he's doing.

"Aw, Amami-chan, what's wrong~?" Ouma giggled, rocking back and forth from the balls of his feet and his tip-toes. "This probably isn't real anyways so-"

And then he fell. Rantaro Amami fell to the ground, his face totally relaxed, but now every stress mark was visible on his flawless face. It was as if the entire room fell stiff. No one could breathe, and for once, there was pure fear on Ouma Kokichi's face. He said something... he went too far. No one knew how vulnerable the Adventurer really was to falling to the Baku. But they all should have realized it.

"A...mami-chan, stop playing pranks...!" The trickster laughed nervously.

"Amami?!" Saihara practically leaped to the other side of the room to check on his friend. "Ouma, what did you do?!"

"I... didn't mean to..." Ouma backed away from his friends. He could feel the harsh glares on him. "I'm sorry!" He suddenly ran out of the room, past the few students in the hallway. /It's your fault. You did this to him./ A small whimper left his lips before he suddenly went air born. He didn't see the stairs. Not a single sound left his mouth afterward as he closed his eyes, and his head hit the wall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i give you all permission to kill me right now


	3. Our Only Choice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Hermit Crab

**There is nothing around me, but I can feel it. It's cold, but it's empty. I'm blind, but I can see. Where am I? Where is everyone? I remember I fell... I hit my head really hard. But I should wake up by now, shouldn't I? I can feel my heart start to race. I can hear it too.**

Lub-dub

Lub-dub

Lub-dub

_It's so loud... my head is pounding. I can feel hands pressing against my eyes. The hands feel so familiar, yet so strange. I can't make out any words. It hurts too much. There's something warm running down my forehead and the side of my face. I feel it hit my lips. Tentatively, I bring my tongue out to taste it. Probably not the smartest decision. It is blood. Why is there so much blood? I force my eyes to open._

_There's something there. In front of me. I can feel is baring into my soul and reading everything about me. I open my mouth to scream but nothing comes out. I put on my facade but it melts instantly. It feels like acid being poured over my skin in waves. I blink. Whoever it is, they're in front of me now. But I know this person... Don't I? Yes... I do know him._

"Sai...hara...-Chan...?" _It hurts, but I just barely manage to get the name out of my mouth and in the open. But the figure in front of me is not my beloved. They share a similar face, but half of it is covered in an inky black substance with sharp teeth, and glowing pink eyes with an unfamiliar substance dripping down it. Certain patches of his clothes and even one of his hands are the same way. Where am I? I want to go home... I want my friends... I want my Saihara-chan back. Where is he? What did you do to my beloved? I can hear myself screaming, but it's only in my head. But then again... If I supposedly fell down the stairs, aren't I in my own head? Then how am I thinking?_

_The figure in front of me grins a blood-curling grin. His one visible eye is dark and hazy. I can feel my arm lift up and reach out to the figure. That's when it lays it's cold hands upon my shoulders and pushes me off the ledge. I'm falling again. When I look up, I see him looking back down at me as I fall further and further into the unknown abyss. But what's that?_

"Wake up."

_I hear you... where are you?_

"Wake up!"

_I'm trying! I can't! I-_

"WAKE UP!"

\----

Purple eyes slowly opened to see a small crowd of people around him. The friends that had once split up to explore the school were gathered around him, worried looks on their faces. Satsuki Kagamune, the Ultimate Physiologist, helped the Ultimate Supreme Leader sit up, but instantly began to wrap his head up with bandages. There was blood all over the ground, and staining the white uniform the Leader adorned.

"I'm fine!" Ouma gave out a forced smile. It was clear to everyone that he was not fine, but there wasn't really much of anything that they could do about it. He looked around at the group of people, and visibly tensed up upon seeing his beloved Saihara. But was the detective really his? He didn't know anymore. He was scared that it was that monster again. The one that visited him in his knocked out state. "I think Amami-chan was right..." He says suddenly.

"Amami? What do you mean?" Maki asks coldly.

"It's a Baku... I'm positive."

"Ouma-kun, this isn't the time for your lies!" Saihara snapped at the boy.

"It's _not_  a lie." The purple, bleeding boy says darkly, his face serious for once in his life. "It _ha_ _s_  to be a Baku."

"Even if it _is_  a Baku," Kiyo interrupted, "there's no way to actually get inside someone's mind and examine their dreams. It's virtually impossible."

There was silence in the room for a few moments. "Actually... Matsuda and I have been working on an experiment for a while. One where you can be part of someone's dream. Now that I think about it, this would be a very good way to test if our theory works." Her one uncovered eye lit up light a lightbulb. All of you, come with me." She says and then starts to go to her Ultimate Lab. "Actually, Korekiyo, yes? Do me a favor and grab Matsuda Yusuke. He should be in the gymnasium." She bowed slightly in thanks and then continued on her way to her Ultimate Lab with the class of 79. The red trench coat trailed behind the female, her hair bouncing slightly with every step. "When we get to my lab," she stared, not turning back to look at the remaining group, "I need some of you to help me take the equipment to the computer lab. That's the only place I'll be able to set up. I will also need some of you to gather one of the Fallen so we can hook them up as well."

"Fallen?" Iruma asked, scrunching up her nose. "The fuck is that?"

"Ah... it's what I've taken to calling the victims that have fallen to the Baku in simplistic terms." At that moment, Satsuki opened the door to her lab, and instantly pointed out what they needed, taking the materials to the Computer lap where the experiment will take place.

**-After some time of setting up-**

"I believe everything is in order." Matsuda hummed. In the room, seven chairs were set up. One in the middle for Amami Rantaro, who would be their control, and then six more for the ones who would actually go inside his mind. The other Fallen were taken to the gymnasium until further notice. Rantaro was already hooked up to the machine.

"So... how does this work?" Ouma asked as he sat in one of the chairs, a fake smile on his pale face.

"Well, the theory is that dreams all take place in one universe," Satsuki said as the other six, Korekiyo, Saihara, Kirumi, Angie, Kokichi, and Kiibo. Iruma wanted to go, but she was going to stay behind with Satsuki and Matsuda incase something went wrong with the computer and they had to get out.

"Now, remember, if you die in the dream, there is no guarantee that we can save your life here. There's only so much that we can do." Satsuki reminded them with sadness in her eyes. She didn't want to deal with losing anyone else for real.

It only took a few moments to connect everyone to the computer until it was time.

"Now everyone, close your eyes. The monitors we hooked you up to will send a small electric shock to your brain and knock you out. Once you're out, you should go into REM sleep. Then you can continue on with your mission. Satsuki will stay here to make sure no one interrupts." Matsuda said, arms crossed over his chest

The six students did exactly as the male asked and closed their eyes. Then suddenly, they couldn't hear. Or see. Or feel.

But when their eyes opened they were in an unfamiliar meadow. The grass that they landed in felt soft like cotton candy, although they knew it was physically impossible. The air smelled fresh, lacking the familiar smell of pollution that was more than common in Japan. Upon looking up at the sky, it was an unnatural ocean blue with fluffy pink clouds floating in the sky. Random flowers also littered the field in an array of colors. Many of the colors they could see and name, but shockingly, there were even colors that they couldn't place. The six students were still on their feet when they landed in the unfamiliar world. Almost all of them looked around in utter bewilderment. Except, Ouma, of course. He couldn't let his real feelings show. Not even in a dream world.

"It... actually worked..." Saihara breathed out, his eyes wide in shock as he looked around the unfamiliar world around him. It was honestly beautiful; nothing like the group could have ever imagined. Yet it was also everything that they thought of when they thought of dreams. Not nightmares, but dreams. But... shouldn't this be a nightmare? Their friends were taken away... Were they not scared? had they misinterpreted this whole thing? No... They couldn't have. Their friends would want to see them again.

"This place is massive!" Kiibo cried, eyes furiously darting around the area, trying to gather as much information as possible just from sight. "And this whole thing is unnatural! I mean- these colors aren't supposed to be seen by human eyes, and the clouds-"

"Kiibo, I do not believe now is the time to panic," Korekiyo said calmly. "Dreams aren't meant to be natural. Think of it... as a fairy tale. A fantasy."

"This truly is a divine sight!" Angie had her hands pressed together above her head. "This *must* be the home of Atua; there is no other explanation!" The group decided that it would be pointless to attempt to prove her wrong on her observation.

"Well, in any case," Korekiyo hummed, "I suggest we search as a group. We are stronger that way and I'd highly prefer not to become a Fallen."

"What?" A shocked and mildly horrified look came onto Shuichi's face. "You mean even in here, we can still fall?!"

"Precisely. Although we are in here through certain circumstances, that does not make us immune. The Baku can still blind us, easily."

The group was silent for a short time. Even in the dream world, they weren't safe.

"So~!" Angie was the one who decided to break the tense atmosphere. "Where should we go first~?"

"I believe that heading North is our best bet." Kirumi said calmly, then began to walk in the direction she assumed was north. They didn't have a compass, and even then, would they even be able to tell direction? Do dream worlds have gravitational pull? The thought alone made Saihara's head pound.

The small group followed the Ultimate Maid, occasionally looking around at the scenery. Kokichi noted that there were an abnormal amount of butterflies. Damn it made him think of an American movie... And some other theory that he heard before, but he couldn't remember. Honestly... he felt like he couldn't remember anything here. It felt so fake, but it also felt so real. But I guess that's how dreams work. No matter how realistic they are, there's always that nagging voice in the back of your mind that reminds you that they're fake.

But they're not fake anymore. For a short while, this would be their reality. A reality that Kokichi wasn't sure he could handle. Was he the only one with this feeling? Everyone else seemed just fine. Strange.

It felt like no time at all had passed once they all came to a stop- but why? Why had they stopped? Well you should ask Korekiyo as he's currently being strangled by some sort of snake like creature. Suddenly, everyone was in a frenzy, smacking the snake harshly. But then suddenly they couldn't move, and the snake also stopped moving. They were frozen. Was Korekiyo dead- oh no he's not. But he looks like he's in pain.

In front of four of the five not probably dying students, there was a menu with several options.

_**Kirumi - Broom, potion** _   
_**Saihara - Magnifying Glass, heal** _   
_**Angie - Bible, Holy Fire** _   
_**Kokichi - Poke, Unholy Screech** _

Kiibo was left out of the fight, but seemed prepared to step in if something happened.

And... Kokichi was not amused with his options. But just because, he chose Unholy screech. After Angie had made her choice, they instinctively used their desired methods of defense to attack the snake. It only took one line of attack for Korekiyo to be let go.

*You have gained 500 monocoins!*

The Anthropologist fell to the ground, coughing violently and holding his throat, but he of course decided not to remove his mask. He's stubborn like that. But it didn't take long for him to recover. However, there was a green bar above his head that seemed halfway empty.

"Geez, is this place like a video game or something?" Kokichi wondered out loud. That sure would make things more interesting... But also would make this place hell because he's pretty sure that he and Saihara are the only ones who have ever played video games. Of course, Saihara didn't as much, but he did at times.

"I wonder..." The detective responded to the leader and suddenly tapped the air. Much to his surprise, a holographic like screen appeared with a list of the group that included stats, special attacks, HP level, and health. Korekiyo's was low. Saihara decided to look through the tab labeled inventory. That's where all the monocoins were... and also one singular health potion.

Without taking a vote, Saihara shoved it in Korekiyo's hands, forcing him to drink it. He would really rather not have anyone die during the first hour they were here.

...

Had it been an hour? Or less? Or more? Damn, they were already losing track of time.

But the potion worked. Korekiyo was back to his full health, to much of the relief of the other students.

Angie stayed beside Korekiyo to make sure he didn't suddenly pass out. The potion had been labeled health, but the mind can be very deceiving. However, considering they had some through by Rantaro's subconscious, things should be fine, right? Right.

The group carried on North. The further they got, the more they noticed the snow. But they weren't cold. You can't feel temperature in a dream. Well... you can to a certain extent, but typically that's when it's in a severe situation. Such as believing you're being burned alive in your dream. Or being chocked, and when you wake up and you're hacking up a lung. Ew.

But then... it happened. In the distance two people could be seen.

"Hey look, it's more people!" Kokichi said happily, quickly running towards them.

"O-Ouma-kun I don't think thats-" Saihara tried to stop him but... of course it didn't work. Kokichi was much faster than he looked.

When they got close enough, it was visible that the two people were much more familiar than you'd think. Actually... both of them were very familiar. It was Shuichi Saihara, but Rantaro Amami was also with him. They seemed to be talking in secret. But the moment they noticed Kokichi, a look of fear came over both of them. Rantaro materialized into the air, but Shuichi ran in the opposite direction.

"Hey, come back, Shuuichi~!" Angie giggled. "We don't want to hurt you~"

The group ran after the other Shuichi. But when they saw him, he was standing at the very edge of a cliff. What... What's going on?

Saihara was the one to make the first step towards his clone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I'm sooo sorry this took forever to upload! I was having trouble accessing the document, and had no motivation at all to try and rewrite it, so I managed to recover it! I hope you liked this chapter uwu
> 
> POLL(?): Should I make a discord server for this story? That way you guys can post your theories and bug me to update so I don't forget!
> 
> NOTICE: I need someone to make art for me! Like the Tarot cards in Dreamtalia, I would absolutely love it if someone could draw these, preferably digital. In your own time of course, but I sadly cannot commission anyone. I'm broke and a minor :"


End file.
